On Your Doorstep Issue 1 | Page 7

Jim Roberston

I came upon the 'On Your Doorstep' project after reading an interview with Karen Thurman LPRS and the editor of OnLandscape Tim Parkin. The concept resonated with me as I'm a great believer in finding landscape photography locations close to home.

Let me tell you something about a location on my doorstep which has become of special interest to me.

Clashach Cove, sometimes known as Cove Bay, is in the North East of Scotland and is situated near to the little town of Hopeman which is in Moray. It is a location close to home for me and only ten minutes away by car and my photography in the location has developed into a personal project.

It's hard to believe that it was over forty years ago when I was first introduced to Clashach Cove. Two school friends and I had left school 'early', if you follow my meaning, and had driven down from Elgin on a warm early summer afternoon. The year was 1970 and we huddled precariously beneath a sandstone overhang fairly high up on the sandstone cliff which forms the western edge of the cove and there read extracts from J R R Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. A magical book in a magical location!

To us humans forty odd years may seem like a long time ago but it's not until one realises that the Old Red Sandstone to be found in the area was formed around 360 to 415 million years ago and that the realativly young New Red Sandstone in this area was formed a mere 200 to 300 million years ago that our notion of what a 'long time' is pales into insignificance!

Over the years I visited the cove on countless occasions but it wasn't until around eight years ago, when I first looked at it and the surrounding area with photography in mind, that the idea for the project was formed.

All images in this article are (c) JM Robertson.